Polling method and apparatus for long term evolution multimedia broadcast multicast services

ABSTRACT

A device for wirelessly communicating a service to user equipment is provided. The device includes a transmitter, a receiver, and a processor. The processor is programmed to promote the transmitter polling to determine whether user equipment desire a service and responsive to receiving, via the receiver, at least one user equipment request for the service, the processor programmed to promote the transmitter providing a point-to-multipoint (PTM) broadcast of the service.

BACKGROUND

Multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) are multimedia and otherservices that may be communicated over a cellular network. For example,television station broadcasts or other streaming multimedia may becommunicated over a cellular network to be received and displayed byuser equipment. The MBMS may be communicated from an enhanced node B(ENB) to user equipment using point-to-point (PTP) communication orpoint-to-multipoint (PTM) communication.

PTP communication is similar to conventional cellular networkcommunication in that there is a dedicated radio bearer between the ENBand the user equipment. PTP communication from the ENB may enable highquality communication with the user equipment in part because of thetwo-way nature of the communication between the user equipment and theENB using various enhancements such as Hybrid-ARQ and the fast linkadaptation. When a large number of user equipment communicate with anENB using PTP communication, a substantial amount of overhead may berequired for establishing and maintaining the PTP communications and asubstantial amount of the available spectrum may be occupied.

PTM communication may include utilizing a dedicated channel or dedicatedcarrier to broadcast data or services to multiple users. While a certainamount of overhead may be required to initiate a broadcast PTMcommunication, the overhead is relatively small and may not vary inrelation to the number of user equipment. That is, as more userequipment utilize the broadcast data or services, the overhead requiredto establish and maintain the broadcast PTM communication remainsapproximately the same. Broadcast PTM communications may also improvespectral efficiency as the number of user equipment increases because nonew transmissions are required for new added users. In some cases, thequality of broadcast PTM communications may be less than that for PTPcommunications since there is little or no communication from the userequipment, power considerations, and other factors which may reduce therelative quality of the communication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure, reference is nowmade to the following brief description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein like referencenumerals represent like parts.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary cellular network according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary cell within a cellular networkaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary method of determining when to switch from PTPcommunication to PTM communication within a cell of a cellular network.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary method of requesting PTP communication in abroadcast PTM communication environment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a wireless communications system including amobile device operable for some of the various embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a mobile device operable for some of thevarious embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a software environment that may be implemented ona mobile device operable for some of the various embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary general purpose computer according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It should be understood at the outset that although illustrativeimplementations of one or more embodiments of the present disclosure areprovided below, the disclosed systems and/or methods may be implementedusing any number of techniques, whether currently known or in existence.The disclosure should in no way be limited to the illustrativeimplementations, drawings, and techniques illustrated below, includingthe exemplary designs and implementations illustrated and describedherein, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claimsalong with their full scope of equivalents. This application is relatedto co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/737,987, filed on evendate herewith, inventor Zhijun Cai, entitled “Method and Apparatus forUser Equipment for Long Term Evolution Multimedia Broadcast MulticastServices,” which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

Disclosed herein is a system and method for communicating multimediabroadcast multimedia services (MBMS) and other services in a cellularnetwork. In order to enable low overhead communication, when the systemdetermines there may be one or multi-cell involves in the MBMS servicedelivery, upon just one user equipment within a cell of the multiplecells desiring a MBMS, the cell may communicate the MBMS in a broadcastpoint-to-multipoint communication. Each cell in the cellular network maydetermine whether or not any of the user equipment desires the MBMSthrough issuing a polling request in conjunction with a probabilityfactor. The probability factor may be incrementally increased untileither a user equipment responds to the polling request or a maximumprobability factor is reached.

When two or more adjacent cells in the cellular network have userequipment that desire the same MBMS, a control component may establish asingle frequency network to communicate the MBMS on the same resource inthe adjacent cells so as to increase the quality of the broadcastpoint-to-multipoint communication. If user equipment within a cellreceives the broadcast point-to-multipoint at low quality, the userequipment may request a point-to-point communication to increase thequality of communication.

In one embodiment, a device for wirelessly communicating a service touser equipment is provided. The device includes a transmitter, areceiver, and a processor. The processor is programmed to promote thetransmitter polling to determine whether user equipment desire a serviceand responsive to receiving, via the receiver, at least one userequipment request for the service, the processor programmed to promotethe transmitter providing a point-to-multipoint (PTM) broadcast of theservice.

According to one embodiment, a cellular network is provided thatincludes a first device of a first cell in the cellular network, and asecond device in a second cell in the cellular network. The cellularnetwork also includes a central controller such that responsive toeither of the first and second devices identifying a user equipmentdesiring a service provided by one of the first and second devices, thecentral controller promotes the first and second devices initiating apoint-to-multipoint (PTM) broadcast of the service.

According to another embodiment, a method for providing a service isprovided. The method includes polling a plurality of user equipment (UE)in a network to determine a response to a service, and responsive to atleast one user equipment requesting the service, initiating apoint-to-multipoint (PTM) broadcast of the service in the network.

In another embodiment, a user equipment is provided that includes aprocessor programmed responsive to receiving a point-to-multipoint (PTM)broadcast of a service at a low quality, to request a point-to-point(PTP) communication from the network.

In still another embodiment, a method is provided for user equipment toreceive a service. The method includes receiving a point-to-multipoint(PTM) broadcast of a service from a network. The method includesattempting to obtain an improved quality of the service by requestingfrom the network a point-to-point (PTP) communication of the service.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary cellular network 100 according to anembodiment of the disclosure. The cellular network 100 may include aplurality of cells 102 ₁, 102 ₂, 102 ₃, 102 ₄, 102 ₅, 102 ₆, 102 ₇, and102 ₈ (collectively referred to as cells 102). As is apparent to personsof ordinary skill in the art, each of the cells 102 represent a coveragearea for providing cellular services of the cellular network 100 throughcommunication from an enhanced node B (ENB). The cellular services mayinclude any service, including a multimedia multicast broadcast service(MBMS). While the cells 102 are depicted as having non-overlappingcoverage areas, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatone or more of the cells 102 may have partially overlapping coveragewith adjacent cells. Further, while a particular number of the cells 102are depicted, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatmore or less of the cells 102 may be included in the cellular network100.

Each of the cells 102 within the cellular network 100 may operate tocommunicate MBMS and other services to user equipment (UE) usingpoint-to-point (PTP) communication or using point-to-multipoint (PTM)communication. The UE may include any device that may communicate usingthe cellular network 100. For example, the UE may include devices suchas a cellular telephone, a laptop computer, a navigation system, or anyother devices known to persons of ordinary skill in the art that maycommunicate using the cellular network 100. In some embodiments, some ofthe cells 102 may only operate to communicate services using PTPcommunication and/or some of the cells 102 may only operate tocommunicate services using PTM communication.

As discussed in the background, a reduced quality of communication, andother negative factors may be considered when communicating data andservices using a broadcast PTM communication. Due to these negativefactors greater quality may be provided by communicating MBMS and otherservices using multiple PTP communications or a multicast PTMcommunication up to a certain number of the UE.

Typically the performance gain from using PTP communication may reducewhen the number of users increase. For example, when many UE in one ofthe cells 102 want to utilize a MBMS or other service, it may becomemore efficient and improve the quality of the MBMS for one or more ofthe cells 102 to switch to a broadcast PTM communication. For example,upon the cell 102 ₂ determining that the number of users interested inthe service is large, the cell 102 ₂ may decide to communicate the MBMSthrough a broadcast PTM communication. Complex counting algorithms, suchas those defined in the universal mobile telecommunications system(UMTS) release 6 (R6), may be implemented at the cells 102 to determinehow many UE are currently using a MBMS and how many UE are interested inusing a MBMS or other service. Implementing these counting algorithmsincreases the communication overhead as well as the load on uplinkaccess channels in the cells 102.

In order to increase the quality of broadcast PTM communications, thecellular network 100 may create a single frequency network (SFN). A SFNis created by two or more adjacent cells 102 communicating a MBMS on thesame resource such as frequency or carrier using broadcast PTMcommunication. By broadcasting the same service on the same resource,the broadcast PTM communications of the adjacent cells 102 mayconstructively interfere with each other to increase the quality of thecommunication observed by the UE in each of the adjacent cells 102.Related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/737,984, entitled “MCCHDesign for Long Term Evolution”, filed on even date herewith, isincorporated herein by reference for all purposes and providesdisclosure of communication in a SFN.

Looking again at FIG. 1, the shaded cells 102 within the cellularnetwork 100 may be communicating a MBMS or other service using one ormore PTP communications. For example, using the counting algorithmsdescribed above, the cell 102 ₁, the cell 102 ₆, and the cell 102 ₈ mayhave each individually determined that PTP communications with UE withintheir cell is more efficient. The cells 102 within the cellular network100 that are not shaded may be communicating the MBMS using a SFN. Forexample, the cell 102 ₂, the cell 102 ₃, the cell 102 ₄, the cell 102 ₅,and the cell 102 ₇ may all communicate the same MBMS on the same carrierusing broadcast PTM communication.

Due to the increased performance of broadcast PTM communications whenusing a SFN, the performance gain from using PTP communication insteadof broadcast PTM communication may be much reduced. This is in contrastto the example described above when a SFN is not used where theperformance gain of PTP communication over broadcast PTM communicationis still significant. Because each of the shaded cells 102 iscommunicating using PTP communication, there may be very few UE in eachof these cells 102.

The quality of communication enabled by the SFN may be degraded by theshaded cells 102 using PTP communication and not contributing to theSFN. In other words, if the shaded cells 102 were to switch to abroadcast PTM communication on the SFN, then the quality ofcommunication enabled by the SFN may further increase. As such, it maybecome more efficient and provide quality comparable to that of PTPcommunication by utilizing a SFN on all of the cells 102 that have UEinterested in a MBMS or other services rather than individuallyoptimizing each cell to determine when to switch from PTP communicationto broadcast PTM communication. Even though the shaded cells 102 mayhave a low density of UE, the increase in the overall quality ofcommunication in the cellular network 100 coupled with the overalldecrease in overhead required to implement the counting algorithms mayjustify using broadcast PTM communication for a MBMS or other serviceeven in cells 102 where there is a low density of interested UE.

In accordance with an embodiment, rather than determining how many UEdesire a MBMS or other service, a simplified determination of whether ornot there are any UE interested in a MBMS or other service may beperformed. When two or more adjacent cells 102 have UE interested in aMBMS or other service, a central controller 110 may instruct theadjacent cells 102 to communicate the MBMS or other service on a SFN.The central controller 110 may provide centralized management andcoordination for a plurality of enhanced node Bs (ENBs). The centralcontroller 110 may poll each of the cells 102 to determine if there areany UE interested in a MBMS or other service. When two or more adjacentcells 102 have UE interested in the MBMS or other service, the centralcontroller 110 may establish a SFN for broadcasting the MBMS or theother service on the adjacent cells 102.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary cell 200 within the cellular network100. The cell 200 includes an enhanced node B (ENB) 204 and a pluralityof UE 206. The ENB 204 may receive a MBMS or other services throughcommunication with a network content provider 216 over a backhaulnetwork connection 214. Upon receiving the MBMS or other services, theENB 204 may determine whether any of the UE 206 are interested in theMBMS or other services. While only three UE 206 are depicted within thecell 200, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that theremay be more or less UE 206 within the cell. Further, while the ENB 204is show to be in communication with one network content provider 216,persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the ENB 204 maybe in communication with a plurality of content providers.

The UE 206 may each operate in a connected state or an idle state withthe ENB 204. The UE 206 in the connected state are in activecommunication with the ENB 204, whereas the UE 206 in the idle state maybe in range of the ENB 204, but not in active communication. For the UE206 in the connected state, the ENB 204 may easily determine how many UE206 are currently using the MBMS or other services.

In order to determine whether or not any of the UE 206 in an idle stateare interested in the MBMS or other services, the ENB 204 may issue apolling request to the UE 206 within the cell. The polling request mayinclude at least an indication of the MBMS or other services availableat the ENB 204. When the ENB 204 issues the polling request, it may bedetrimental if all of the UE 206 interested in a MBMS or other servicecorresponding with the polling request respond to the polling request.For example, the cell 200 may have 10,000 UE 206 and each of the UE 206may be interested in receiving a MBMS or other service. If the ENB 204issues a polling request to determine the interest in the MBMS or otherservice, a response by all of the UE 206 might overwhelm and crash thecell 200.

In order to mitigate the possibility of too many UE 206 responding to apolling request, a probability factor may be associated with the pollingrequest. For example, a polling factor of 0.001 may be associated withthe polling request such that around one in a thousand of the UE 206within the cell 200 respond to the polling request. In an embodiment,the polling factor may be communicated along with the polling request tothe UE 206. If the UE 206 is interested in the MSMB or other serviceidentified in the polling request, then the UE 206 may utilize thepolling factor in order to determine whether or not to respond to thepolling request.

Following the example above with the cell 200 having 10,000 UE 206, apolling factor of 0.001 may reduce the expected response from a pollingrequest to around 10 of the UE 206 if all 10,000 of the UE 206 withinthe cell 200 are interested in the MBMS or other service. On the otherhand, if there are only 10 UE 206 within the cell 200 that areinterested in a MBMS or other service, a probability factor of 0.001 maynot result in any of the UE 206 responding to the polling request.

In the event the ENB 204 does not receive any responses from the UE 206with a small probability factor, such as a probability factor of 0.001,then the probability factor may be incrementally increased until eitherat least one of the UE 206 responds to the polling request or theprobability factor is 1. Upon any of the UE 206 responding to thepolling request, the cell may begin a broadcast PTM communication of theMSMB or other service associated with the polling request. The ENB 204may then transmits a stop counting command. With a probability factor of1, if any of the UE 206 within the cell 200 are interested in the MBMSor other service associated with the polling request, then the UE 206will respond to the polling request. If none of the UE 206 respond tothe polling request with a probability factor of 1, then there are no UE206 within the cell 200 that are interested in the MSMB or other serviceassociated with the polling request.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method for determining whether any ofthe UE 206 within the cell 200 are interested in a MBMS or otherservice. At block 302, a minimum probability factor may be initiated,such as the probability factor 0.001. At block 304, a start countingcommand may be issued by the ENB 204 to the UE 206. The start countingcommand may include an indication of the MBMS or other service that isavailable at the ENB 205. If any of the UE 206 are interested in theMBMS or other service, the interested UE 206 may reply to the ENB 204based on the probability factor.

At block 306, the ENB 204 determines if any of the UE 206 have respondedto the start counting command. At block 308, when at least one of the UE206 have replied, the ENB 204 may begin communicating the MBMS or otherservice using a broadcast PTM communication. Because the MBMS or otherservice initiates a broadcast PTM communication when just one UE 206 isinterested in the MBMS or other service, at block 310, the ENB 204 mayissue a stop counting command. The stop counting command may be issuedin an effort to reduce additional UE 206 from responding to the startcounting command such that the load of uplink access channels in thecell 200 is not greatly increased.

If the ENB 204 determines, at block 306, that none of the UE 206 haveresponded to the start counting command, then at block 312 the ENB 204may determine whether the current probability factor is the maximumprobability factor. If the ENB 204 determines that the probabilityfactor is already at a maximum, then the stop counting command may beissued at block 310 as described above. If the ENB 204 determines, atblock 312, that the current probability factor is not at the maximum,then at block 314 the ENB 204 may increase the probability factor andcontinue the process at block 304. In an embodiment, the ENB 204 mayincrementally increase the probability factor by factors of ten. Forexample, the probability factor may have a minimum value of 0.001 andincrementally increase to 0.01, then 0.1, then to a maximum probabilityfactor of 1. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatother probability factors and other incremental increases of probabilityfactors may be used.

Looking back to FIG. 2, when communicating the MBMS or other servicesusing a broadcast PTM communication, the ENB 204 may only be able tocommunicate the broadcast PTM communication at a high quality within acertain distance 208 of the ENB 204. The UE 206 located within thedistance 208 may receive the broadcast MBMS or other service at a highquality, while the UE 206 located outside of the distance 208 mayreceive the MBMS or other service at a reduced quality.

While the distance 208 is depicted as a uniform distance from the ENB204, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that manyfactors may cause the distance 208 to vary. For example, geological andother environmental or physical factors may impact the distance 208which UE 206 may receive a broadcast PTM communication from the ENB 204at a sufficient quality. Also, cells adjacent to the cell 200 that arecommunicating on a SFN may increase the distance 208 such that the UE206 may receive the broadcast PTM communication at high qualitythroughout the cell 200. Even when all of the cells 102 in the cellularnetwork 100 communicate on a SFN, some of the UE 206 may receive thebroadcast PTM communication at lower quality. For example, cell 102 ₄ islocated on the edge of the cellular network 100 such that some of the UE206 may receive the broadcast PTM communication at lower quality.

For the UE 206 that receive the broadcast PTM communication at lowquality, the UE 206 may issue a request to the ENB 204 to initiate a PTPcommunication of the MBMS or other service. FIG. 4 illustrates anexemplary method for the UE 206 to issue a request for PTPcommunication. At block 402, the UE 206 may receive the broadcast PTMcommunication from the ENB 204. At block 404, the UE 206 may determineif the broadcast PTM communication is being received at a low quality.Where the UE 206 determines that the communication is not being receivedat low quality then the UE 206 continues to receive the broadcast PTMcommunication from the ENB 204 at step 402.

When the UE 206 determines that the communication is being received atlow quality, the UE 206 may issue a request for PTP communication to theENB 204, at block 406. At block 408, the ENB 204 and the UE 206 mayestablish a PTP communication such that the UE 206 may receive the MBMSor other services at higher quality. A normal PTP communication requestmay typically require communicating through the ENB 204 through thebackhaul network connection 214 to the network content provider 216.Because the ENB 204 already has the MBMS or other service available forthe broadcast PTM communication, it is not necessary to replicate thebackhaul network connection 214. In this case the ENB 204 may morequickly and efficiently establish the PTP communication and provide theUE 206 with the MBMS or other service. At that point, the UE 206 may bereceiving the MBMS or service from both the PTP communication and alsofrom the PTM broadcast. In one embodiment at block 410, the UE 206 mayinclude functionality to optionally combine and/or analyze the MBMS orother service received from both the PTP communication and the broadcastPTM communication to further increase the quality of the MBMS or otherservice.

FIG. 5 shows a wireless communications system including one embodimentof a mobile device 502. The mobile device 502 is operable forimplementing aspects of the disclosure, but the disclosure should not belimited to these implementations. Though illustrated as a mobile phone,the mobile device 502 may take various forms including a wirelesshandset, a pager, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portablecomputer, a tablet computer, or a laptop computer. Many suitable mobiledevices combine some or all of these functions. In some embodiments ofthe disclosure, the mobile device 502 is not a general purpose computingdevice like a portable, laptop or tablet computer, but rather is aspecial-purpose communications device such as a mobile phone, wirelesshandset, pager, or PDA. In another embodiment, the mobile device 502 maybe a portable, laptop or other computing device.

The mobile device 502 includes a display 500. The mobile device 502 alsoincludes a touch-sensitive surface, a keyboard or other input keysgenerally referred as 504 for input by a user. The keyboard may be afull or reduced alphanumeric keyboard such as QWERTY, Dvorak, AZERTY,and sequential types, or a traditional numeric keypad with alphabetletters associated with a telephone keypad. The input keys may include atrackwheel, an exit or escape key, a trackball, and other navigationalor functional keys, which may be inwardly depressed to provide furtherinput function. The mobile device 502 may present options for the userto select, controls for the user to actuate, and/or cursors or otherindicators for the user to direct. The mobile device 502 may furtheraccept data entry from the user, including numbers to dial or variousparameter values for configuring the operation of the mobile device 502.The mobile device 502 may further execute one or more software orfirmware applications in response to user commands. These applicationsmay configure the mobile device 502 to perform various customizedfunctions in response to user interaction.

Among the various applications executable by the mobile device 502 are aweb browser, which enables the display 500 to show a web page. The webpage is obtained via wireless communications with a cell tower 506, awireless network access node, or any other wireless communicationnetwork or system. The cell tower 506 (or wireless network access node)is coupled to a wired network 508, such as the Internet. Via thewireless link and the wired network, the mobile device 502 has access toinformation on various servers, such as a server 510. The server 510 mayprovide content that may be shown on the display 500.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of the mobile device 502. The mobile device502 includes a digital signal processor (DSP) 602 and a memory 604. Asshown, the mobile device 502 may further include an antenna and frontend unit 606, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 608, an analog basebandprocessing unit 610, a microphone 612, an earpiece speaker 614, aheadset port 616, an input/output interface 618, a removable memory card620, a universal serial bus (USB) port 622, a short range wirelesscommunication sub-system 624, an alert 626, a keypad 628, a liquidcrystal display (LCD), which may include a touch sensitive surface 630,an LCD controller 632, a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera 634, acamera controller 636, and a global positioning system (GPS) sensor 638.

The DSP 602 or some other form of controller or central processing unitoperates to control the various components of the mobile device 502 inaccordance with embedded software or firmware stored in memory 604. Inaddition to the embedded software or firmware, the DSP 602 may executeother applications stored in the memory 604 or made available viainformation carrier media such as portable data storage media like theremovable memory card 620 or via wired or wireless networkcommunications. The application software may comprise a compiled set ofmachine-readable instructions that configure the DSP 602 to provide thedesired functionality, or the application software may be high-levelsoftware instructions to be processed by an interpreter or compiler toindirectly configure the DSP 602.

The antenna and front end unit 606 may be provided to convert betweenwireless signals and electrical signals, enabling the mobile device 502to send and receive information from a cellular network or some otheravailable wireless communications network. The RF transceiver 608provides frequency shifting, converting received RF signals to basebandand converting baseband transmit signals to RF. The analog basebandprocessing unit 610 may provide channel equalization and signaldemodulation to extract information from received signals, may modulateinformation to create transmit signals, and may provide analog filteringfor audio signals. To that end, the analog baseband processing unit 610may have ports for connecting to the built-in microphone 612 and theearpiece speaker 614 that enable the mobile device 502 to be used as acell phone. The analog baseband processing unit 610 may further includea port for connecting to a headset or other hands-free microphone andspeaker configuration.

The DSP 602 may send and receive digital communications with a wirelessnetwork via the analog baseband processing unit 610. In someembodiments, these digital communications may provide Internetconnectivity, enabling a user to gain access to content on the Internetand to send and receive e-mail or text messages. The input/outputinterface 618 interconnects the DSP 602 and various memories andinterfaces. The memory 604 and the removable memory card 620 may providesoftware and data to configure the operation of the DSP 602. Among theinterfaces may be the USB interface 622 and the short range wirelesscommunication sub-system 624. The USB interface 622 may be used tocharge the mobile device 502 and may also enable the mobile device 502to function as a peripheral device to exchange information with apersonal computer or other computer system. The short range wirelesscommunication sub-system 624 may include an infrared port, a Bluetoothinterface, an IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless interface, or any othershort range wireless communication sub-system, which may enable themobile device 502 to communicate wirelessly with other nearby mobiledevices and/or wireless base stations.

The input/output interface 618 may further connect the DSP 602 to thealert 626 that, when triggered, causes the mobile device 502 to providea notice to the user, for example, by ringing, playing a melody, orvibrating. The alert 626 may serve as a mechanism for alerting the userto any of various events such as an incoming call, a new text message,and an appointment reminder by silently vibrating, or by playing aspecific pre-assigned melody for a particular caller.

The keypad 628 couples to the DSP 602 via the interface 618 to provideone mechanism for the user to make selections, enter information, andotherwise provide input to the mobile device 502. The keyboard 628 maybe a full or reduced alphanumeric keyboard such as QWERTY, Dvorak,AZERTY and sequential types, or a traditional numeric keypad withalphabet letters associated with a telephone keypad. The input keys mayinclude a trackwheel, an exit or escape key, a trackball, and othernavigational or functional keys, which may be inwardly depressed toprovide further input function. Another input mechanism may be the LCD630, which may include touch screen capability and also display textand/or graphics to the user. The LCD controller 632 couples the DSP 602to the LCD 630.

The CCD camera 634, if equipped, enables the mobile device 502 to takedigital pictures. The DSP 602 communicates with the CCD camera 634 viathe camera controller 636. The GPS sensor 638 is coupled to the DSP 602to decode global positioning system signals, thereby enabling the mobiledevice 502 to determine its position. Various other peripherals may alsobe included to provide additional functions, e.g., radio and televisionreception.

FIG. 7 illustrates a software environment 702 that may be implemented bythe DSP 602. The DSP 602 executes operating system drivers 704 thatprovide a platform from which the rest of the software operates. Theoperating system drivers 704 provide drivers for the mobile devicehardware with standardized interfaces that are accessible to applicationsoftware. The operating system drivers 704 include applicationmanagement services (“AMS”) 706 that transfer control betweenapplications running on the mobile device 502. Also shown in FIG. 7 area web browser application 708, a media player application 710, and Javaapplets 712. The web browser application 708 configures the mobiledevice 502 to operate as a web browser, allowing a user to enterinformation into forms and select links to retrieve and view web pages.The media player application 710 configures the mobile device 502 toretrieve and play audio or audiovisual media. The Java applets 712configure the mobile device 502 to provide games, utilities, and otherfunctionality. A component 714 might provide functionality related toaspects of the present disclosure, such as analyzing the communicationsor requesting PTP communication form the ENB as described above.

The system described above, such as, but not limited to, the ENB 204 andnetwork content provider 216 may be implemented on a general-purposecomputer with sufficient processing power, memory resources, and networkthroughput capability to handle the necessary workload placed upon it.FIG. 8 illustrates a typical, general-purpose computer system suitablefor implementing one or more embodiments disclosed herein. The computersystem 380 includes a processor 382 (which may be referred to as acentral processor unit or CPU) that is in communication with memorydevices including secondary storage 384, read only memory (ROM) 386,random access memory (RAM) 388, input/output (I/O) 390 devices, andnetwork connectivity devices 392. The processor may be implemented asone or more CPU chips.

The secondary storage 384 is typically comprised of one or more diskdrives or tape drives and is used for non-volatile storage of data andas an over-flow data storage device if RAM 388 is not large enough tohold all working data. Secondary storage 384 may be used to storeprograms which are loaded into RAM 388 when such programs are selectedfor execution. The ROM 386 is used to store instructions and perhapsdata which are read during program execution. ROM 386 is a non-volatilememory device which typically has a small memory capacity relative tothe larger memory capacity of secondary storage. The RAM 388 is used tostore volatile data and perhaps to store instructions. Access to bothROM 386 and RAM 388 is typically faster than to secondary storage 384.

I/O 390 devices may include printers, video monitors, liquid crystaldisplays (LCDs), touch screen displays, keyboards, keypads, switches,dials, mice, track balls, voice recognizers, card readers, paper tapereaders, or other well-known input devices. The network connectivitydevices 392 may take the form of modems, modem banks, ethernet cards,universal serial bus (USB) interface cards, serial interfaces, tokenring cards, fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) cards, wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) cards, radio transceiver cards such as codedivision multiple access (CDMA) and/or global system for mobilecommunications (GSM) radio transceiver cards, and other well-knownnetwork devices. These network connectivity 392 devices may enable theprocessor 382 to communicate with an Internet or one or more intranets.With such a network connection, it is contemplated that the processor382 might receive information from the network, or might outputinformation to the network in the course of performing theabove-described method steps. Such information, which is oftenrepresented as a sequence of instructions to be executed using processor382, may be received from and outputted to the network, for example, inthe form of a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave

Such information, which may include data or instructions to be executedusing processor 382 for example, may be received from and outputted tothe network, for example, in the form of a computer data baseband signalor signal embodied in a carrier wave. The baseband signal or signalembodied in the carrier wave generated by the network connectivity 392devices may propagate in or on the surface of electrical conductors, incoaxial cables, in waveguides, in optical media, for example opticalfiber, or in the air or free space. The information contained in thebaseband signal or signal embedded in the carrier wave may be orderedaccording to different sequences, as may be desirable for eitherprocessing or generating the information or transmitting or receivingthe information. The baseband signal or signal embedded in the carrierwave, or other types of signals currently used or hereafter developed,referred to herein as the transmission medium, may be generatedaccording to several methods well known to one skilled in the art.

The processor 382 executes instructions, codes, computer programs,scripts which it accesses from hard disk, floppy disk, optical disk(these various disk based systems may all be considered secondarystorage 384), ROM 386, RAM 388, or the network connectivity devices 392.

While several embodiments have been provided in the present disclosure,it should be understood that the disclosed systems and methods may beembodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spiritor scope of the present disclosure. The present examples are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the intention is notto be limited to the details given herein. For example, the variouselements or components may be combined or integrated in another systemor certain features may be omitted, or not implemented.

Also, techniques, systems, subsystems and methods described andillustrated in the various embodiments as discrete or separate may becombined or integrated with other systems, modules, techniques, ormethods without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Other items shown or discussed as coupled or directly coupled orcommunicating with each other may be indirectly coupled or communicatingthrough some interface, device, or intermediate component, whetherelectrically, mechanically, or otherwise. Other examples of changes,substitutions, and alterations are ascertainable by one skilled in theart and could be made without departing from the spirit and scopedisclosed herein.

1. A device for wirelessly communicating a service, comprising: atransmitter; a receiver; and a processor programmed to promote thetransmitter polling to determine whether user equipment desire a serviceand responsive to receiving, via the receiver, just one user equipmentrequest for the service, the processor programmed to promote thetransmitter providing a point-to-multipoint (PTM) broadcast of theservice, wherein responsive to a request by user equipment receiving thePTM broadcast to receive the service via a point-to-point (PTP)communication, the processor programmed to further promote thetransmitter transmitting the service via PTP communication such that thetransmitter transmits the PTM and PTP communication substantiallyconcurrently.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the polling includes aprobability factor to prevent less than all the use equipment within acell from responding to the request, and wherein when no user equipmentrespond to the polling request, the processor programmed to increase theprobability factor to increase the likelihood that user equipment in thecell will respond.
 3. The device of claim 1, wherein the polling isdefined as a counting algorithm based on an UTMS (universal mobiletelecommunications system) R6 (Release 6) counting algorithm.
 4. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the processor programmed responsive toreceiving a first user equipment request for the service to promote thetransmitter transmitting a stop counting command.
 5. The device of claim1, wherein the device is an enhanced node B in a long term evolutionnetwork.
 6. The device of claim 1, wherein the service is a multimediabroadcast multicast service (MBMS).
 7. The device of claim 1, whereinuser equipment is one of group of user equipment consisting of mobiledevices, mobile handsets, cellular telephones, mobile telephones, dualmode handsets, wireless telephones, laptop computer, tablet computers,portable computers, desktop and personal computers, televisions, set-topboxes, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
 8. The device of claim 1,wherein the device is in a first cell in a cellular network, and furthercomprising: a second device in a second cell adjacent the first cell,wherein when user equipment in the second cell desire the service thenthe second device also transmits the PTM broadcast; and a third devicein a third cell adjacent the first cell, wherein when user equipment inthe third cell desire the service then the third device also transmitsthe PTM broadcast.
 9. The device of claim 8, wherein the device sendsfeedback to a central controller related to the user equipmentrequesting the service, and wherein the central controller coordinatesthe first, second, and third devices transmitting the PTM broadcast. 10.The device of claim 1, wherein a central controller prompts the deviceto initiate the polling.
 11. A method for providing a service,comprising: polling a plurality of user equipment (UE) in a network todetermine a response to a service; and responsive to just one userequipment requesting the service, promoting a point-to-multipoint (PTM)broadcast of the service in the network, wherein responsive to a requestby user equipment receiving the PTM broadcast to receive the service viaa point-to-point (PTP) communication from a user equipment alreadyreceiving the PTM broadcast, the processor programmed to further promotethe transmitter transmitting the service via PTP communication such thatthe transmitter transmits the PTM and PTP communication substantiallyconcurrently.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein initiating the PTMbroadcast of the service responsive to the at least one user equipmentrequesting the service further includes promoting the PTM broadcast ofthe service responsive the first user equipment requesting the service.13. The method of claim 11, wherein polling further includes initiatinga counting algorithm including a probability factor, and wherein when nouser equipment request the service, increasing the probability factorand polling the plurality of user equipment (UE) in the network todetermine the response to the service.
 14. The method of claim 13,further comprising continuing to increase the probability factor untilthe probability factor reaches one such that any user equipment in thenetwork desiring the service responds to the request.
 15. The method ofclaim 13, wherein responsive to at least one user equipment requestingthe service, the method further comprises transmitting a stop countingcommand to the user equipment in the network.
 16. The method of claim13, wherein the counting algorithm is based on an UTMS (universal mobiletelecommunications system) R6 (Release 6) counting algorithm.
 17. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the service is a MBMS (multimedia broadcastmulticast service.
 18. The method of claim 11, wherein polling is in acell of a cellular network.
 19. A cellular network comprising: a firstdevice of a first cell in the cellular network; a second device in asecond cell in the cellular network; and a central controller such thatresponsive to just one of the first and second devices identifying auser equipment desiring a service provided by one of the first andsecond devices, the central controller promoting the first and seconddevices initiating a point-to-multipoint (PTM) broadcast of the service,wherein responsive to a request from user equipment receiving the PTMbroadcast, to receive the service via a point-to-point (PTP)communication from one of the first and second devices, the centralcontroller promoting the one of the first and second devicestransmitting the service via PTP communication such that the one of thefirst and second devices transmits the PTM and PTP communicationsubstantially concurrently.
 20. The cellular network of claim 19,wherein the central controller promotes the first and second devicesproviding the PTM broadcast as a single frequency network (SFN).
 21. Thecellular network of claim 19, wherein the first and second devices areenhanced node B and wherein the cellular network is a long termevolution (LTE) cellular network.
 22. The cellular network of claim 19,wherein a content of the service is obtained from a network provider andstored locally relative to the first and second devices.
 23. Thecellular network of claim 19, wherein the PTP communication does notinclude a connection of user equipment to a back-haul provider ofcontent for the service.
 24. The cellular network of claim 19, whereinthe first device downloads and stores the content for the service from anetwork content provider via a back-haul network such that the firstdevice provides the PTP communication with user equipment and the PTMbroadcast using the downloaded content.
 25. The cellular network ofclaim 19, wherein the services is a MBMS (multimedia broadcast multicastservice).